Ohio State is becoming increasingly more intentional in how it allocates quarterback assignments over the first seven days of preseason practice.
The Buckeyes split their roster so that two groups of offensive and defensive players compete simultaneously for the first four practices, allowing all five of their scholarship quarterbacks — and players at every position — to get more playing time. At the end of the third and fourth practices, however, the Buckeyes began full-team 11-on-11 drills, with Will Howard taking over most of the drills behind the first-team offensive line while Devin Brown took over most of the drills with the second unit.
The split-team phases were over Thursday when Ohio State reopened practice to the media on the seventh day of training camp. But the weekend’s trend continued at team practices, with Howard at quarterback taking the vast majority of first-team duties while Brown took nearly all of the second-team duties.
In his second post-practice press conference of preseason practice on Thursday, Ryan Day wasn’t ready to name Howard as Ohio State’s starting quarterback, but he did say Howard and Brown have separated themselves as the Buckeyes’ top two quarterbacks ahead of Julian Sayin, Lincoln Kienholz and Air Noland. And he made it clear he’s been impressed with what he’s seen from Howard so far this month.
“We mixed it up a little bit, but you can see he and Devin getting the lion’s share of reps with the ones,” Day said when asked if Howard had emerged as the favorite for the quarterback position. “I would say he’s taken command of the huddle at the line of scrimmage. I think he’s a lot more confident out there.”
“No decisions have been made yet. We’ll probably do a little practice on Saturday. Until then, we’ll do an evaluation and see where we stand. But both guys are getting reps with the A’s.
“I have to say that Will has really made strides here over the last few practices, taking control of the offense and making good plays on third down. Again, he didn’t earn the job, but we saw some positive plays there.”
Day believes Howard has shown “absolute command of the offense” in the Buckeyes’ first seven practices of camp and that he has also been in better physical shape since the spring, dropping from 249 pounds to between 233 and 235 pounds.
“I think he’s worked on not only his body this summer — and I think he lost 2% body fat — and that was a big part, but his understanding of the offense,” Day said. “He’s worked on his shooting technique. But if you just tell me what looks different this preseason, it’s his command of the offense, the way he makes decisions and his movements.”
It would have been a surprise if Day had named a starting quarterback on Thursday ahead of the first full preseason practice game on Saturday, which will be closed to the media. However, it would not be a surprise if Howard becomes Ohio State’s starting quarterback next week if he can build on the momentum he has built so far in training camp with a strong practice performance.
